The Problem with 'Anti-Football'

Anti-football is a term that’s been thrown around a fair bit in the recent past. Most notably during Chelsea’s run in at the end of the season and mentioned every time England played anyone in the Euros, adopting the resources that we have and using them to the best of our ability, rather than desperately imitating a formula that we cannot hope to achieve in our current state. Chelsea couldn’t beat Barcelona or Bayern in the Champions League this year had they gone to the games and looked to outplay them, just as England couldn’t have hoped to beat Italy by playing through the middle and abusing the possession stats. The only difference between the two games, interestingly is that Chelsea managed to win the proverbial coin flip in the penalty shoot-out, England didn’t, and this fifty-fifty shot at finishing the game is the only thing that separates Chelsea’s brilliant success and the calls for England to reshuffle their youth policy.